Dr. Jens Oberheide, Professor

Jens Oberheide received his M.S.
(Dipl.-Phys.) 1996 from the University of
Hannover in Germany and his Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) 2000 from the
University of
Wuppertal in Germany. He was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the
National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado
(2001-2003) before returning to University of Wuppertal where he
obtained his lecture qualification in 2007 ("Habilitation", assistant professor
equivalent). He joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at
Clemson University in March 2010.

His research interests include
the dynamics of Earth's mesosphere-thermosphere-ionosphere system; the
forcing and vertical propagation of tides, planetary waves, and gravity
waves including their effects on chemistry and electrodynamics;
geospace environment coupling to the atmosphere below and to solar
activity; comparative aeronomy; long-term trends in the upper
atmosphere; utilization of satellite and
ground-based remote sensing data to resolve variability and vertical
coupling processes in the atmosphere; and the validation of middle and
upper atmosphere models. He is a specialist in satellite data analysis
and conducts physics-based empirical modeling of atmospheric tides
in the stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere.

Dr. Quan Gan, Postdoc

Quan Gan received his B.E. (Electronic
Information Engineering) in 2006 and his Ph.D. (Space Physics) in 2012
from Wuhan University in China. He was a Postdoctoral Research
Associate at the University of Louisville in Kentucky between November
2013 and August 2016 and a short-term visiting scholar at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado (July 2015 - January 2016). He started his postdoctoral research in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Clemson University in August 2016. His current research interest is atmospheric planetary wave coupling with the thermosphere and ionosphere.

Nirmal Nischal, Graduate Student

Nirmal Nischal received his B.Sc. in Physics in 2009 and his M.Sc. in
Physics in 2013 from Tribhuvan University in Nepal.
He is a graduate student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at
Clemson University since 2013. His Ph.D. research is focused on the
impact of atmospheric tides driven by the lower atmosphere on the
energy budget of the thermospher
using satellite data and photochemical modeling.

Komal Kumari, Graduate Student

Komal Kumari received her Integrated B.S.-M.S. degree in Physics in
2015 from the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research
(IISER) Kolkata, in India. Currently, she is a graduate student in the
Department of Physics and Astronomy at Clemson University since
2015. Her Ph.D. research is focused on understanding the short-term
tidal variability in the upper atmosphere (~80-100 km) using SABER
(instrument on board TIMED satellite) data.